An American IPA from another great brewer out of Northern California. This particular IPA is made with 18% rye.
I haven’t really gotten into Bear Republic for some reason. To tell the truth, I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t like the look of their bottles. How incredibly stupid is that?? Anyways, I have overcome my terrible consumer instincts and had their Racer 5 IPA recently which I thought was superb. Now onto another.
After much waiting and anticipation, I finally got a taste of the dark dark sweetness! This is the beer that people wait around for hours once a year for. Got it in a trade for some Cuvee de Tomme.
Wax top pops off with no noticeable carbonation… did I get a bad bottle?
Smells of coffee and sweet alcohol right off the bottle cap, very promising!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Wow, its been a while since my last post. Studying for the CFA has taken me away from this blog for a while, but not away from good beer!
During my studying hiatus, I managed to sample a good number of good brews, too many to count really. Lots of good beers left to go over the rest of the summer so stay tuned!
For some reason I have been on a big IPA spree, including new to me beers from Alesmith and Bear Republic. Something about summer that makes a big crisp hop bomb so appealing. Maybe its the heat. I also got my hands on some more Stone 11th which is one of my favorite beers of all.
Still looking forward to drinking some Dark Lord, and the Westy 8 and 12 in the next couple months!
Filed under: Beer Review
Time for a marathon of quick reviews in no particular order…
Rogue/Santa’s Private Reserve Ale
Spicy and hoppy. I love winter beers and this is an excellent example. A bit more body would have taken this to the next level. Good complexity and drinkability. B
Avery/Samael’s Ale
Oak aged beast packs 15% abv. Tastes thick and syrupy like a barleywine reduction. Reminds me of the J.W. Lees. Sweet, caramel, fruit in the front, big oak finish and a bourbony alcohol burn to finish it off. Definitely a sipper, but another incredibly interesting, complex and challenging beer from Avery. B+
J.W. Lees/Vintage Harvest Ale 1998
Speaking of J dub, this one was a sweet, very syruppy brew with lots of fruit flavors and a caramel richness to it. Again, tastes like a condensed, no-hop barley wine to me. Really feels like it was just sitting around for about 10 years (which it has). A bit of alcohol charecter, more like a brandy though. Another sipper, very interesting and have never had anything like it (till the Samael’s). B+
Thirsty Dog/Siberian Night Imperial Stout
Very solid imperial stout. Nothing stands out, but definitely cannot find a fault. Dark, roasted, some hops, what more can you ask for? B+
Oskar Blues/Ten FIDY
Another well produced imperial stout. I really love this style and can’t complain one bit about this beer. Comes in a can too! Nothing really takes it to the next level, but I can’t fault a beer for being a perfect representation of a style. A-
I had a lot more to go, but a study break took me away for a while. Hopefully I will be back with pictures and more reviews!
Filed under: General
Went through my first experience with beer trading this weekend!
Something I always thought about but never really put into action. Then Mark and I found ourselves with a bunch of Lost Abbey/Cuvee de Tomme which we weren’t all that ecstatic about so we decided to jump in.
Posted on Beer Advocate and recieved an overwhelming amount of responses. This beer was even more in demand that I thought! We got something like 30 offers.
We ended up choosing 4 or so for trade. All of the members have been helpful and trusting, 2 of them even agreed to ship their packages first, which takes a huge leap of faith on their part. I mean I could just as easily make off with their beer.
Anyways most of the trading is in progress, I did complete a trade already with some guy who did free overnight shipping (which is incredible since 3 day shipping costs like $40!). We are expecting some Dark Lord, some great locals, and even some Westy (the number one beer on Beer advocate).
So far its been a great experience and I can feel myself get pulled deeper and deeper into this obsession…
Filed under: General | Tags: Cuvee de Tomme, Judgement Day, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Serpent Stout, Stone
I have been meaning to write this up for a while, too bad studying eats every living second of my time!
On May 3rd we took a trip down to San Diego for the Lost Abbey 2nd Anniversary. They were releasing three new beers there, one of which, Cuvee de Tomme, was only going to be for sale on that one day. While we were there we made plans to head down to other establishments in the craft beer mecca of San Diego.
First stop was Port Brewing aka The Lost Abbey. The quick storybehind this company goes as follows. Pizza Port (the restaurant) head brewer Tomme Arthur opens a production facility to brew comercial releases of Pizza Port beers as well as his own hobby beers. The former is called Port Brewing, the latter, The Lost Abbey.
Winter in early summer.
I am a big fan of winter/holiday beer. First off, it was my first exposure to seasonal/rotating releases. Second, they are usually fuller bodied and more roasted. Third, they often are quite hoppy.
Pyramid/Snowcap, Sierra Nevada/Celebration and this Jubelale were stalwarts in my winter collection and I haven’t had one for years. Lets see how it holds up.
Pours a ruby color with one finger head that dissipates quickly with minimal lacing. Darker beer than I expected, body looked light going in. Strong malt smell with a hint of roastiness and maybe some skunkiness.
“And now for the trifecta…”
George Costanza may have a different idea of a trifecta (pastramia/sex/tv?!). This beer completes the Dogfish Head trifecta of beers found in Los Angeles. This particular beer is brewed with muscat grapes and saffron… interesting indeed.
Pours like a white wine. Bubbly and efervecent, not head to speak of and absolutely no lacing. Body really looks like a heavy white wine, the only thing that gives it away is the dark straw color.
Can’t smell much due to a clogged nose, but the smells of grapes definitely come through. First taste is thick and full and very much like a reisling. More beer flavor than I would have expected from the look and smell. Grape flavors are definitely there, along with a bit of something at the end that could be the saffron? Just a touch of carbonation.
Filed under: Beer Review | Tags: Moon Lit Sessions Lager, Port Brewing, Serpent Stout
Yet another (!) great beer from Port Brewing. This particular dark lager is made from the second running of the Lost Abbey/Serpent Stout, one of my favorite stouts. I usually don’t go for lagers, especially dark lagers. To me, lagers arent nearly full bodied or interesting enough, and dark lagers are worse mainly because they are a let down. Lots of dark lagers like Heineken Dark (whatever happened to that beer?) or Negro Modelo have no taste and hurt my eye’s feelings!
Not this time dark lager! Not this time!! Beer pours dark brown with little head. Smells like a stout, a bit of alcohol and roasted malts are present.
I haven’t had this beer in a while. My buddy got a bottle of this for his b-day from a co-worker and let me relive the glory days of early Belgians.
Beer looked great, nice auburn color with a good looking foam head with good retention. Unfortunately, not alot of taste to back it up. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the beer and it was very drinkable and enjoyable, its just that I remember being challenged a bit more by this beer when I first had it. I can see why this particular Belgian is so popular, Mark said it best “its the Budweiser of Belgians”.
